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to Process Vocals for an
Amazing Professional SoundMo Volans on Sep 8th 2008 with 79 commentsTutorial DetailsProgram: Logic Pro 8
Difficulty: Beginner - Intermediate
Completion Time: 1 hour
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This entry is part 4 of 17 in the Recording Vocals Session - Show All
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Persuading a problematic vocal recording to play nicely with the rest of your mix can
seem like a futile task. Well-recorded vocals and poorly-recorded vocals both need to
be correctly prepared, and the processes were going through today will help you turn
your untreated vocal take into a polished and commercial sound.
Note: this tutorial contains embedded audio that will not display in a feed reader. Click
back to the site to read the tutorial with audio or download the Play Pack at the end of
the tut.
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Before we get started, have a listen to our untreated vocal.
Unprocessed Vocal
1. Get Rid of Background Noisewith Gating
The first thing youll probably notice about any vocal recording (good or bad) is the
presence of background noise, ranging from subtle to annoying. This can be caused
by anything; a computer in the studio, traffic, background conversation and, of course,
headphone output bleeding onto the microphone.
Before the core of the vocal signal can be tackled and processed efficiently, as much
of this background noise as possible must be removed. You have a few options here
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as there are plenty of techniques available, including manually editing the areas of
noise or even using automation to lower the level of these regions. Although perfectly
valid techniques, the most convenient tool for tackling the issue is a noise gate.
Noise gates are supplied in one form or another with pretty much every DAW (digital
audio workstation). Products such as Cubase, Logic, Ableton and Digital Performer all
include feature-rich gate plug-ins out of the box. Im using Logic Pro 8 here, but the
techniques are generic and can be used with any software and similar plug-ins.
Once you have selected your gate plug, its simply a case of setting the threshold so
that the body of your vocal is heard but the areas of silence or noise are muted. Even
with the most precise setting here, you may notice that your vocal sounds unnatural
when coming in and out. This can be solved with some tweaking of the attack and
release settings. Some gates will have extra controls such as hold time and gain
reduction amount to get an even more natural sound.
Gated vocal
2. Dealing with LowFrequencies
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Once your vocal is playing back without any noise its time to start thinking about a
chain of processing that will compliment the vocal and bring out the best in the
performance. The order that I have here is by no means set in stone and is simply
one way you can work. Once you have a good understanding of each process you
can mess with the order of the processors as you see fit.
It is important to filter out low frequencies and it is always a good idea to do it early in
your chain as this will allow any plug-ins after this point to operate at optimal capacity
since they wont have to process large amounts of unwanted low frequency energy.
Many problems due to vibration, further noise during the recording and so on can be
eradicated with this simple process.I have used an EQ plug-in with the high pass filter engaged. Watch the slope and
frequency you use here, as these will need to be adjusted depending on the type of
vocal you are working with. For instance, I was able to filter quite a lot of low end as I
am working with a female vocal.
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Filtered vocal
3. Controlling Dynamics withCompression
Of course, its likely that in any vocal performance the singer is louder at some points
and quieter during others. This may be because the piece requires lots of dynamic
variance, or just that they were too close or too far away from the mic at times.
Whatever the cause, if your take contains these issues you are going to want to fix
them and this is where dynamics processing comes in.
The use of compressors to control dynamics should be no secret to even a beginner
in the field of production. Even the most simple production software will include some
form of compression plug-in or limiter that is capable of evening the peaks and
troughs in any audio signal. Vocals react especially well to compression and once the
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correct attack and release settings are applied, pretty large amounts of gain reduction
can be used without introducing any negative side effects to your sound.
Again, if you are not sure how to set up a compressor, start with an initiated patch and
try some subtle settings to begin with. You can resort to presets to get the ball rolling
and tweak things as you go. Once you have a compressor working correctly on your
vocal, you should be able to enjoy an even and more powerful overall sound. If you
still feel there are some wayward dynamics leaping out of the vocal channel, some
light limiting can be used to put a cap on things.
Compressed vocal
4. Take the Hiss Out with De-
Essing
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If ssss and ch sounds are causing spikes in your vocal recording, these need to be
processed out. This unwanted artefact is called sibilance and is pretty hard to avoid
during the recording process.You can tackle mild cases of sibilance with a high pass EQ or low pass filter. You may
even prefer reducing the gain of the problem areas manually in an audio editor, but
again, the easiest route is to use a processor called a de-esser, an automated
process designed especially for the job.
De-essers are pretty common plug-ins with a simple set of controls. Usually one
would set the frequency of the problem area and then move onto the sensitivity or
threshold setting to ensure the process only kicks in when needed. If you are in any
doubt try using the plug-in presets as a guideline and starting point.
You can hear the de-esser working on the its section of the vocal here. Be careful
over use of the process can effect the signal in undesirable ways and make words
sound unrealistic and illegible.
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De-essed vocal
5. EQ andenhancers
After using compression and de-essing, it is possible you may have lost some of the
important higher frequencies in your vocal. Although dynamics processing has
obvious bonuses, it can leave the signal sounding slightly dull. These frequencies can
be dialled back in with the use of subtle shelving equalization or the use ofan enhancer.
In this case I have used Logics own EQ to add some upper mids, just to claw back
some of the air lost in previous processing. Be careful here as you can end up re-
introducing the sibilance you spent time removing in previous steps. Less is more is
the way forward here. Keep things subtle.
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EQed vocal
6. Keep Organized with GroupingAlthough there was no use for it in this example, as there is only one vocal track being
used, setting up groups or busses can be extremely useful. It is not uncommon to
have several similar vocals playing on numerous tracks in any one project. If this is
the case, send them all through a master buss and apply your chain of vocal
processors to it. Not only will this give you a more cohesive vocal sound but it can
save CPU resources as you are only applying the plug-ins once.
Of course backing vocals and ad libs may need to be sent through their own buss to
avoid confusion and masking. It can also be useful to apply different more subtle
processes to these secondary vocals to create some contrast between them and your
lead part.
7. Adding Reverb andDelay
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Finally, to add space and an ethereal quality you can use some delay and reverb
effects. These can be used as inserts, but become especially useful when used in a
send/return configuration. This way any automation on your vocal track will not effect
the processing and any tails will stay intact. Also the delay and reverb can be used on
any channel in your mix. Try not to swamp the vocal with extra effects as it will lose
presence and clarity.
Delay & Reverb
8. Pitch correction and othertroubleshooting
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There wasnt a huge amount left to do to this vocal as everything was working nicely
after all this processing was applied, but in some cases extra work may need to be
done. For instance, if the singer was a little shaky (or tone deaf!) you might feel the
need for some pitch correction. This process was made famous by the Antares Auto-
Tune plug-in, but there are plenty of other options. Logic 8 has a great bundled pitch
correction plug.
Another final alteration you may want to make is the use of automation to reduce the
level of any remaining problem transients. If you arent happy with any sibilance or
pops that have managed to find their way though the chain of processors, you can
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simply apply a small dip in the volume automation lane. This will really help to soften
the area and eliminate the problem.